Installation guide

Chapter 11. KVM Para-virtualized Drivers

11.2. Installing the KVM Windows para-virtualized drivers

This section covers the installation process for the KVM Windows para-virtualized drivers. The KVM

para-virtualized drivers can be loaded during the Windows installation or installed after the guest is

installed.

You can install the para-virtualized drivers on your guest by one of the following methods:

• hosting the installation files on a network accessible to the guest,

• using a virtualized CD-ROM device of the driver installation disk .iso file, or

• using a virtualized floppy device to install the drivers during boot time (for Windows guests).

This guide describes installation from the para-virtualized installer disk as a virtualized CD-ROM

device.

1. Download the drivers

The virtio-win package contains the para-virtualized block and network drivers for all supported

Windows guests.

Download the virtio-win package with the yum command.

# yum install virtio-win

The drivers are also from Microsoft (windowsservercatalog.com

). Note that the Red Hat

Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are created on the same

code base so the drivers for the same version (for example, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization

Hypervisor 2.2 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5) are supported for both environments.

The virtio-win package installs a CD-ROM image, virtio-win.iso, in the /usr/share/

virtio-win/ directory.

2. Install the para-virtualized drivers

It is recommended to install the drivers on the guest before attaching or modifying a device to use

the para-virtualized drivers.

For block devices storing root file systems or other block devices required for booting the guest,

the drivers must be installed before the device is modified. If the drivers are not installed on the

guest and the driver is set to the virtio driver the guest will not boot.

11.2.1. Installing the drivers on an installed Windows guest

This procedure covers installing the para-virtualized drivers with a virtualized CD-ROM after Windows

is installed.

Follow Procedure 11.1, “Installing from the driver CD-ROM image with virt-manager” to add a CD-

ROM image with virt-manager and then install the drivers.

Procedure 11.1. Installing from the driver CD-ROM image with virt-manager

1. Open virt-manager and the guest

Open virt-manager, select your virtualized guest from the list by double clicking the guest

name.

2. Open the hardware window

Click the blue Information button at the top to view guest details. Then click the Add Hardware

button at the bottom of the window.